Mobile Resources

From Education & Outreach

This page provides the structure for the Q3 2017 review and rewrite of the suite of documents linked from the current page Mobile Accessibility Overview. Additional consideration is being given to integrating with related work, particularly Mobile Accessibility Intro

Current Links

Previous Documents

"Overlap documents":

  1. Web Content Accessibility and Mobile Web: Making a Website Accessible Both for People with Disabilities and for Mobile Devices
  2. Shared Web Experiences: Barriers Common to Mobile Device Users and People with Disabilities
  3. Relationship between Mobile Web Best Practices (MWBP) and Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) - This is a W3C "Technical Report" (TR doc) that takes more effort to change. We probably won't prioritize changing it. At some point, we might add a note about it's datedness.

Below was discussed in 26 Jan 2018 EOWG teleconference.

Background

These documents were created ages ago in web time, back when people were newly focusing on mobile design. The purpose was to show that many of the issues around designing for mobile devices have already been addressed by designing for people with disabilities. And thus they can use the accessibility guidelines to help them achieve both: accessibility for people with disabilities and usability on mobile devices. (Note that back then, mobile phones had many more limitations than most do now.)

These were also to support the business case for accessibility: if you make it accessible, it will work better for people without disabilities using mobile devices.

In more recent years, there has been increased attention to "mobile accessibility", that is, improving accessibility by people with disabilities using mobile devices. This is a different thing than these documents addressed, and we need to clearly distinguish to avoid confusion.

An important point that we needed to get across is that the WCAG 2.0 addresses most mobile accessibility needs. And, please do not created separate mobile accessibility standards, as that will muddy the waters. (WCAG 2.1 will address even more mobile accessibility issues.)

What Now

  • Mobile Accessibility at W3C now focuses on "mobile accessibility" and doesn't say anything about the overlap
    • Issue: w3.org/wai/mobile was long ago "Web Content Accessibility and Mobile Web: Making a Web Site Accessible Both for People with Disabilities and for Mobile Devices." – one of those overlap documents. It is pointed from at least TR doc, which is not easy to change. Probably should put a quiet note at the bottom:

"Web Content Accessibility and Mobile Web: Making a Website Accessible Both for People with Disabilities and for Mobile Devices" that was originally published at this URI is now at https://www.w3.org/WAI/mobile/overlap

  • Will anyone still want the overlap info? Yes, a small number of people for research projects, for articles, for making their business case (e.g., case that used mobile overlap), etc.

Proposal

  • "Retire" these; not plan to update them. (Possibly after WCAG 2.1 is done we might want to simply add a list of the new 2.1 SCs that apply to mobile.)
  • In new site, put #1 & #2 under "Archive", not in the main navigation. Not include https://www.w3.org/TR/mwbp-wcag/ in the nav at all. It's linked from the others, and other places in the W3C site.
  • Make it very clear that these pages are not about "mobile accessibility" and point to Mobile Accessibility at W3C for those people who landed on these but really want the other info.
  • Current site – there's not a clear place to move these in the current nav. Suggest not spending time on it, and leave that for getting the new site done.
Combination Approaches

Keep in mind that we expect very few people to read these, and we probably want to go with a low-effort option.

Option A:

  • Leave #1 and #2 as separate documents.
  • PRO: Easiest.
  • PRO: If other places point to one of these documents, it will make more sense than combining them.

Option B:

  • Combine the #1 and #2 documents into one. Just put the content of #2 at the bottom of #1, without editing it for single introduction, etc.
  • Rationale: If people want the information in one of them, they probably also want the info in the other. Why make them go to two pages? Yes, it will be a long page, but maybe better than 2 pages in this case.
  • PRO: Still fairly easy.
  • CON: Probably awkward and potentially confusing.

Option C:

  • Combine the #1 and #2 documents into one. Edit it so there is a single introduction, etc.
  • Rationale: If people want the information in one of them, they probably also want the info in the other. Why make them go to two pages? Yes, it will be a long page, but maybe better than 2 pages in this case.
  • CON: Takes more time and effort.
  • PRO: Probably best user experience.

Note:

  • If option B or C, then probably come up with a new title for the combined page.
Top of page

To replace what's currently in the green boxes at the top (starting with "This page introduces how:..." and "This page was developed in 2008"...).

If you want current information on mobile accessibility — that is, people with disabilities using content on mobile devices, see https://www.w3.org/WAI/mobile/

This page was developed in 2008. It is not being updated. Much of the information is still relevant today. It is useful for understanding that:

  • Many of the issues around designing for mobile devices are addressed by designing for people with disabilities.
  • When you address accessibility, you improve the mobile experience, which can help in presenting your business case for accessibility.
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